KEENFest 2017: Celebrating Public Lands

To capture all the awesome camaraderie and celebration we felt the entire week of July 24, we created this short highlight reel of all the good times we experienced—one last time in Salt Lake City.

Outdoor Retailer is a biannual gathering of the outdoor retail community that’s been held in Salt Lake City for 22 years. With the Outdoor Industry Association’s decision to leave Utah due to philosophical differences with state policymakers over the use of public lands, KEEN brought everyone together for a KEENFest concert featuring The Head and the Heart before marching in solidarity with hundreds of outdoor industry friends to the Utah State Capitol the next day.

In 200 years, do we think people will come to Utah to see oil and gas drilling platforms and coal mines, or will they be more likely to visit red desert landscapes with beautiful arches, Canyonlands, and unfettered mountain vistas?

– Casey Sheahan, KEEN President

“As a cornerstone outdoor brand with a track record of standing up for public lands protection, we marched on the Utah State Capitol to urge Utah’s governor and legislators to take a longer-term view of the importance of public lands to Utah’s sizable outdoor recreation economy,” says KEEN President Casey Sheahan. “In 200 years, do we think people will come to Utah to see oil and gas drilling platforms and coal mines, or will they be more likely to visit red desert landscapes with beautiful arches, Canyonlands, and unfettered mountain vistas?”

Together we can protect the land that belongs to all of us. Thank you to everyone who joined us at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and have been voicing support of continued public ownership of public lands by contacting your elected officials.

What you can do:
Continue to stand up for public lands by reaching out to your elected officials and urging them to support the Antiquities Act that was signed into law in 1906, and keep our public lands in public hands. Visit usa.gov/elected-officials to get contact information for your state’s governor, and U.S. Senators and Representatives.